I'll start this since the first review has come onto the internet from IGN. They gave it a 9.5 both on PS2 and Xbox and a 9.4 for the GameCube version.

The key thing to remember here is that Jon Robinson is reviewing this title while Chris Carle reviewed ESPN NFL 2K5. Jon Robinson is best known to me (lately) by his over-reviewing of NFL Street, which he gave a 9.2 to. I was not as excited about that game as he was and it was a far cry from the NBA Street series in my mind.

Anyway, the new features sound excellent and I'm not suprised Jon went straight with the "better gameplay" shot. I know many here think ESPN has better gameplay than Madden.

With the addition of online leagues and other things to this game, I think Madden may have trumped ESPN at its own game in everything but straight-up visuals (but not animation IMO). We'll have to see what other sites think of it and I know I'll be right there to get my copy when it arrives

I got it late last night and played one quick game. My initial reaction is that it is VERY similar to last year. It has changed about as much as NCAA did from 2004 to 2005 in gameplay. All of my old pet plays from last year are still there and seem to work just as well. I'm hoping this feeling will change as I get more games under my belt. I am going to play some more tonight.

My initial reaction is that it is VERY similar to last year. It has changed about as much as NCAA did from 2004 to 2005 in gameplay.

I've only played through 1 game, but that would be my take on it so far as well.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that..."

I guess EA Sports is going for incremental improvement only this year ("Live" support notwithstanding). Overall though, I'm happy. As happy as I am with NCAA 2005, which is considerable. But if you didn't care for the gameplay in MADDEN 2004, you ain't gonna like '05 either.

Logged

"My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them." --Mitch Hedberg

OK - Here's what I got out of playing about 5 games with All-Pro settings and those assist things turned off using Philly.

Just a quick rundown of what stood out:

Defense: All of those adjustments are nice, but there isn't much time to use them before the snap of the ball. There are about 93 adjustments that you can make and if you can remember the button sequence you can probably make one quick change before the snap. Not that this is unlike the pros, but moving a linebacker's assignment, bringing a corner to the line and getting back to the pre-snap guy you'd like to control on the same play is tough if not impossible.

Offense: Pass, pass, pass!! I threw for over 400 yards in a 5 minute game against the Skins and then 350 against the Bills. In the Skins game I ran for about 30 yards and the Bills game I got a grand total of 12. So in two games I put up 750 yards passing but only 42 yards rushing. That ain't right.

Overall I like the way the game felt. The controls are very tight and the game plays 'smooth'.

I played my first online game last night. It plays as fast as the offline mode unlike NCAA. So far I honestly think the gameplay is still very similar to last year. The DBs do seem to play the deep ball much better this year though. I have yet to see a reciever leap over 4 guys to catch a bomb which happened all the time last year. One major downer of online play is still the lack of instant replays. I was hoping they would address that on the Xbox at least. Maybe that will be next years big incremental upgrade

So far I'm liking it a lot, probably more than last year. I haven't gotten into the meat of the game yet (franchise), but I've played a few quick games and gotten sucked into the Mini-camp stuff again (I always do with Madden).

The hit stick and defensive changes/defensive Playmaker option are easily the biggest changes I've seen in this game so far. It still plays a lot like the Maddens of yesteryear (which is not a knock, since it's nice and fast action with smooth controls IMO), but I at least feel that my defense (especially the DBs) is no longer at the whim of the offense as it has been in year's past.

Devil is right that understanding the defensive changes and getting them done before the snap is a massive undertaking, but after a while I'd be willing to bet you can fire off the new commands you want to give your players and get back to your pre-snap character. It just takes time obviously. As for the unusual pass/run yards thing, what level are you playing at Devil? I played one All-Madden game and things were much more evened out, but I got my ass handed to me as well.

Incremental additions, yes...but it makes Madden a better game from a gameplay perspective. Then again, what is the massive change in ESPN this year outside of VIP and more broad ESPN support with halftime/after-game, etc.? ESPN has the same horrible playbook engine (IMO), plays pretty much the same as year's past, etc. There would have to be a change on the level of Triple Play vs. MVP Baseball (which changed developers as well) for people to see any yearly upgrade as anything more than incremental additions.

I was playing on All-Pro when racking up those passing yards and moved up to All-Madden to get in a game bfore work and, well, I noticed a bit of comeback garbage.

Losing to the Cards 17-0, I brought the Eagles back to 17-14 and proceeded to fumble 4 times in a row to go down 27-14 and shut the game off out of frustration. I know the Cards D is known for their take-aways :wink: but that was a little much!

Scott and I just played a game using the Pats and Eagles. We combined for 29 yards rushing. I had 51 and he had -22!!! 20 of my 51 came on a scramble with McNabb.

I know people are saying that you have to put time into learning how to run, but that's a cop out. I've been playing football video games for a long time and NOW I have to learn how to run?!? Was every other game up until now doing it wrong?

i agree, seems like they went a bit overboard in shutting down the run as its an effort in frustration in getting a running game going. the backs are almost too fragile and will fall to anything resembling a bump, nudge, or arm tackle.

-Running the ball is very tough for me so far. Linemen do not hold blocks very long. It looks like you will have to be patient and put up with some negative plays.

-Still no online replays. I was hoping they would fix that this year, at least on the Xbox.

-There are TONs of defensive adjustments that can be made. I am comletely lost right now though. I watched the defensive tutorials last night so I have some idea, but it will take time to get the buttons down so you can do them on the fly.

-The DBs really play the deep balls well this year. If your reciever is not open, don't bother. It looks like people will actually have to read the defense this year instead of going deep whether double-covered or not.

- 4 minute quarters for online game is the default. Why???

- No alternate control schemes. NCAA 2005 has this, why not Madden? The alternate controls in NCAA are very close to ESPN. I'm getting old and keeping track of 2 different button layouts is getting harder every year, especially since I am playing both Madden and ESPN on the Xbox this year. Since Halo came out pretty much all FPS's have a standard control scheme on the Xbox, why cant football games? I guess niether company wants to admit that that other is right. But please give us the option to choose from more than just 1 layout.

- Kicking on the online All-Madden level is too difficult. I know I will get used to it soon. But for God's sake it should not be that hard to kick a 30 yard field goal. And reward someone for doing the right thing and punting the ball by making it a little easier. I have probably shanked 70% of my punts in 2 games. (And there have been a lot of them :blink: )

- DBs and Linebackers still have ESP. Watch an instant replay of the corner on the other side of the field from your intended reciever. As soon as the ball is in the air he breaks on it even if he is not looking that way. It is still too hard to throw over linebackers dropping into zone coverage. Linebackers still leap 4 feet into the air with perfect timing in order to knock down passes thrown 20 yards beyond them. Very frustrating.

Despite all of the above remarks I do like the game very much. It seems that the onfield play will be very deep once everyone gets the hang of the adjustments that can be made on both sides of the ball. ESPN still feels more like real footabll to me. Madden feels more like you are playing a video game representation of football. If that makes any sense.